​How well is the Surface Pro 3 doing? Microsoft doesn't share numbers, but apparently the third time's the charm. And if a new Microsoft initiative is any indication, those buyers are coming from an unexpected place.

All the Linux Mint Editions have arrived just in time for the holidays - Linux Mint 14 (Nadia) with Cinnamon, MATE, KDE and Xfce dekstops, and Linux Mint Debian Edition Update Pack 6 with Cinnamon and MATE desktops.

Join me for the "first" computer Christmas season: when PCs cost thousands of dollars, hard-drives boasted of having megabytes of storage, and connecting to the Internet happened at 1,200 bits per second.

Nowadays, you have the choice of only one prominent phone design: the 'patented' slate-like touch-screen smartphone. But ten years ago, Nokia mobile devices were diverse, innovative and in some cases downright strange in order to meet consumer demand.

At the company's event in San Francisco this morning, Dell showed several new models of laptops, desktops, and workstations, as well as a prototype of a 10-inch Windows 7-based tablet due later this year.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and VP Mike Anjiulo demo new Windows 7 PC form factors, including a new Acer touch-sensitive laptop and a new convertible laptop/tablet from Samsung.

At the Gartner Symposium ITxpo in Orlando, Fla., Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talks to analysts about Windows inside the enterprise as Apple continues to make a dent in market share with the introduction of new devices such as the iPad.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Vice President Craig Federighi offer a look at Lion, the next version of Mac OS X. The demo shows a new feature called Mission Control, which combines the Expose, Dashboard, and Spaces applications of OS X with full-screen apps. The new operating system is due to ship in summer 2011.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer officially introduces Windows Phone 7 at a press event in New York City. Microsoft's latest mobile foray showcases nearly every development group within the company, from Bing search to Xbox gaming, to Zune media streaming to Office business content creation.

At mediabistro.com's Think Mobile conference in San Francisco, Microsoft evangelist, Joel Franusic talks about new functionality users can expect with the Windows phone 7. Franusic discusses the new interface, Office updates, and game development features.

At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Dell's Dave Zavelson shows off the company's new 10-inch Windows 7 tablet. Its standout feature is the ability to open up the case, flip the screen, and then convert it into a laptop design. The tablet will be available later this year.

At Apple's press event in San Francisco, CEO Steve Jobs announces updates to the mobile operating system. iOS 4.1 will bring new features starting this week, while version 4.2 will arrive this November.

Snow Leopard Server includes major updates to some of the OS's core components and is now fully 64-bit. Ease of use, plus simple and affordable licensing make OS X a viable alternative to Microsoft's Windows Server 2008, although we had problems with one or two features.

The desktop is dead, long live the thin client desktop. Following the trend of migrating applications into the datacentre, thin clients have become increasingly popular. We found HP's first mobile thin client to be a reliable system at a reasonable price.

Hardy Heron is an incremental set of advances on earlier versions, but all the advances are in the right direction. Unfortunately, a known and unfixed bug means we can't currently recommend it for enterprise use.

Production-quality XenSource virtualisation is the main selling point here, with optional clustering and storage virtualisation to go with it. But there’s a lot more besides, making the new Red Hat Enterprise Linux a compelling solution for businesses of all sizes.

Mandriva Flash gives you a well-stocked and flexible Linux distribution in an extremely portable and secure USB flash drive format. If you're confident of finding a host system that you can reboot on your travels, this could be all the computer you need.

Ubuntu is a powerful, free, ready-to-run desktop Linux distribution that's eminently suitable for mainstream use. Although the complexities of the system impose a steep learning curve on Windows users who plan to support an installation themselves, our experiences with version 6.06 LTS suggest that this is manageable.

This distribution delivers the latest Linux gizmos in an easy-to-install package. It's aimed at enthusiasts and developers, and is not for novices; nor is it something you’d want to run your business on.

Ubuntu is a well integrated, practical and absolutely free Linux distribution. There may be worries about support, but the Canonical organisation is building a good reputation and the head of steam in the wider Ubuntu community should provide decent local support from third parties, too.

If you manage a lot of corporate desktops, then Novell's Linux Desktop is well worth a look -- particularly if you're happy with ZENworks. Linux pricing and Novell's corporate-style support could make this a useful option for business.